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Complex carbs should form 90% of a body builder’s carbohydrate ration in the diet. This is because they are safe, adequate and healthy when compared to simple carbs. Simple carbohydrates, or sugars if you like, are dangerous and risky business. If asked what you eat most, it will better if you could say ‘complex carbs’ and ‘minimal simple carbs’, if not ‘no simple carbs’. Follow this.

The danger and safety of either type of carbohydrates arises from the way either of them relates with insulin. Insulin is the hormone primarily concerned with the regulation of blood sugar and endeavors to maintain it at a constant level. When we ingest a lot of simple carbs, they are easily digested and absorbed into the bloodstream, causing an influx of sugar in the blood. Three things occur consequent to the high blood sugar.

For one, when the sugars are far to high, insulin is produced at a very phenomenal rate. At this condition, the body cannot burn fats because primarily, the urgency is in getting the sugars out of the blood even if it means converting them to fats. No matter how hard you workout, as long as the insulin level is high, as happens after ingesting simple sugars, fats will not be burnt as fuel. Secondly, the sugars have to be converted to something else other than sugar, else the brain and other body organs will be harmed. The first option always available to the body is to use the insulin to convert the sugars into glycogen, stored in the body for later synthesis into usable energy.

This makes it hard to loose body fats, since you are actually gaining more fat as more and more glycogen gets stored up. Thirdly, the insulin production consequent to a steep rise of sugar can get to abnormal leaves. It is an emergency and the body treats it as such. So when the insulin levels are far too high, and more is being produced at every moment, the blood sugar is rapidly eliminated from the blood. That could be good, but then, the insulin level is still in the blood when the sugars reach acceptable and even vita levels. Conversion continues still for the insulin is present in the blood, where the sugars are. Within no time, the blood sugar gets far to low than is ideal, another health risk since the brain, muscles and other body organs need a certain level of sugars in the blood. Therefore, after ingesting simple sugars, the blood sugar might end up reducing at the overall, instead of rising.

With all this negatives borne by simple carbs, you have to agree that they are better left out of the body building diet. The best bet is in complex carbs. To begin with, they are broken down very slowly and can therefore provide a sustained source of energy to the body. Again, the sugar curve is long and with a low gradient. At any given time, the sugar in the blood is optimal, therefore not necessitating the production of insulin. Again, the curve is long meaning the energy production is sustained for long durations after every meal with complex curbs. That is what every body builder needs, to ensure that he or she can train for long and intensely, with adequate supply of energy.

Dane Fletcher is the world’s most prolific bodybuilding and fitness expert and is currently the executive editor for BodybuildingToday.com. If you are looking for more bodybuilding tips or information on weight training, or supplementation, please visit http://www.BodybuildingToday.com, the bodybuilding and fitness authority site with hundreds of articles available FREE to help you meet your goals.

The first two articles in this series discussed various aspects of the best fat burning diet. These included what not to do to burn body fat effectively while maintaining your training intensity as well as how to reduce your carbohydrate intake by “halving” them over a period of time. This third article in the series will report on what you can expect when you implement this diet strategy.

In a previous article the general recommendation was made to cut your intake of carbs in half for five days, then increase it back to your previous level for two days. You would continue to repeat this cycle until you have achieved the desired effect (i.e. you have reduced your body fat to the level you want).

What effect can you expect from this cycle? After the initial five days of depleting your carbs you can expect to see a loss of 1/2 to 1.5 pounds. This will vary from person to person. You may lose more or less. What happens when you increase your carbs? You may experience some weight gain. Don’t be alarmed. This is normally due to water retention. Once you return to your 5 day carb reduction you should hit a lower bodyweight than you did previously. It’s an amazing transformation!

This best fat burning diet strategy can have remarkable results. By chance you don’t hit a new low after one of your 5 day cycles you will want to incorporate the following strategy. You will have to reduce your carb intake even more than before. Do this by limiting your carbs to 2 meals only on 2 days of the 5 day cycle. So the other three meals on those days would consist of only protein. Your carbs should be ingested at the first meal of the day and then before training. This will further restrict your carb intake and will cause glycogen levels to drop further causing your body to burn additional fat.

One last thing to consider. If you do have to resort to limiting your carbs to 2 meals on 2 days then you should increase your protein intake on those days. Increase the protein by at least one-third. This will help protect your body from potential muscle loss which is a risk of low carbohydrates diet.

Applying this best fat burning diet strategy will be effective in reducing your body fat and helping you get that ripped and shredded look. Combine this with a well-thought out work out plan and you can achieve the body that you want. Learn the secrets of the pros by clicking here now: Best Fat Burner

To live a healthy life and keep body physically fit, you need the proper kind of diet that can also satisfy your craving for the food of your choice. The Amish diet, which has been acclaimed to be effective, is purely vegetarian and allows only the consumption of whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables.

A realistic reducing program that insures lose of weight gradually and permanently within a determined period of time and affordable, too, must be the priority in your agenda. You can also study the type of menu they offer.

There are many kinds of diet that you can consider in selecting one that allows you the freedom of eating carbs.

1. Atkin’s is based on the theory that people have excess weight because they eat too much carbs; here, it is gradually reduced and replaced by eating more protein and fats. This will naturally lead to weight-loss when stored body fats are effectively burned.

2. Fast Food caters to fast food addicts for it allows a healthier selection of food found in these places and restaurant menus. You are allowed to eat grilled chicken, sandwiches, chili’s, baked potatoes, fruit parfait and junior burgers; but any kind of fried food is forbidden.

3. Five Factor requires you to consume five meals, each containing a balanced portion of lean meat (chicken, fish or low fat dairy), complex carbs (fruits and veggies), fiber, healthy fats, water or low fat beverages.

4. French Women Don’t Get Fat claims that a French woman has a slim figure because she doesn’t indulge anything, which contains fat. Your meal for two days will only be leek soup; after that, you can feast on meat or fish, vegetables and fruits. You can then now eat your favorite food, but in reduced amount. Limited quantities of wine, chocolate, and white bread are allowed.

5. Low Carb allows protein in every meal; ½ gram of protein for every pound of your weight, normally from 60-85 grams. Crabs are kept low, even 0 to 35 grams daily. Organic, raw and food rich in fiber are favorite choices.

With these diets and others available in the web, you will be able to choose one that fits you. Just some advice though, go for something natural like the Acai Diet.

Now you want to have more energy, be Healthier, look Younger, lose weight, and cleanse your body, right?

Too many carbohydrates make you fatter. This is because they raise the glucose in your blood stream and your body then produces insulin to lower the glucose or blood sugar. The problem is, insulin is a storage hormone, which then stores the excess carbohydrates in the form of fat in the only two places it can – the liver and the muscles. This is nature’s way of putting aside energy reserves in the case of extreme hunger or starvation. The fat stored in the liver is broken down by the body and distributed through the blood stream. The fat stored in the muscles is not broken down and simply sits there – hence your stomach fat.

What are carbohydrates?

They are really sugars. Most of us know they are sweets, pasta and breads, but some of us may not know they are also vegetables and fruit. Of course, we should eat fruit and vegetables as that is where we gain our nutrients and, because they are carbohydrates, our energy. I guess we could say the fruit and vegetables are the good carbs. In fact, these foods should be the main source of our carbohydrates. The bad carbs are the highly refined ones such as white flour, white rice and white sugar and sugary drinks. These send the blood sugar level up quickly, resulting in the production of insulin to combat these higher levels.

Why do we need carbohydrates?

The body needs a constant supply of carbohydrates, which it converts to glucose, most of which is used by the brain. The brain uses an enormous amount of glucose – something like two thirds of what the body produces. So we do have to keep up this supply for good health. It is the type and quantity of carbohydrates that can cause problems, as the excess not used by the body is stored as fat. To make matters worse, when the body produces insulin to lower the blood sugar level, it causes hunger, which is why you can be looking for food a couple of hours after eating. That is why high carb diets do not help you lose weight but, in fact, they actually cause you to put on weight and to keep it on.

A Balanced Diet

A balanced diet should include healthy carbohydrates found in fruit and vegetables. It should also include natural fiber, as this helps to control the amount of blood sugar produced, which in turn lowers the insulin. Natural fats, such as olive oil, should also be a part of a balanced diet, as these do not make you fat but are converted into energy. Excess carbohydrates are the real villains and work against your efforts to lose your stomach fat.

High carb diets do not work but a diet that includes a balance of carbohydrates, fiber, protein and plenty of water do work. Add to this a regular exercise regime and you will be well on your way to a lifetime of good health.

If you are fed up with expensive fad diet plans and want to learn about healthy eating guidelines you can follow to accelerate fat loss start by view these other healthy guidelines at our healthy eating guidelines video.

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Yes that is true, eating too many carbs makes you gain weight, but only if your body does not burn more than it receives. That is the simple fact of weight loss; to lose weight your body must burn more calories than it receives from the food you eat. If you eat food that supplies your body with more calories than it burns then you will gain weight.

Not quite so straight forward

It is a little more complicated than that. The food which you eat must be healthy food if you hope to maintain your body in good shape. You could lose weight by eating only junk food in small quantities, but your body would figuratively give up in despair, with its digestive system in turmoil and you would be prone to various health problems. Studies have shown that people, who have a diet containing a large proportion of junk food, suffer more severe health problems than those who follow a healthy diet.

It is difficult to persuade many people to change unhealthy eating habits, even when they can be shown clear evidence that those habits are harmful to their health. There has been debate in the United States recently about the concept of taxing individual purchases to compensate for the so-called “social costs” of these items on peoples health. There have also been a series of articles suggesting taxes on junk food. Such measures may have doubtful value, it is much better if people make those decisions based on good judgment.

Conclusion

So the question of whether to control the amount of carbohydrates which someone consumes comes down to individual choice. One surely doesn’t have to read much literature on the subject of over weight and obesity to realise too many carbs make you gain weight and to understand the benefits to be gained by achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Advice on healthy eating is readily and freely available. There are many sites on the internet which offer free suggestions for healthy foods and menus for meals which will help you to lose weight. If that becomes too confusing then there are sound balanced diets available at modest cost. Your health is a valuable asset; it is worthwhile investing a small sum of money on it.

Norm Pavelka brings you practical down-to-earth information related to safe weight loss.
His desire is to help the millions of people throughout the world who over weight or obese and are SEARCHING for a way to lose weight safely. They want something that will REALLY HELP.

Carbohydates are an important part of the human’s diet. Ever since humans know how to farm for food, we have been consuming staple food that mainly comprises of carbohydrates. The reason is simple – we need energy to sustain our body and to do work, and carbohydrate is an excellent store of energy.

Carbohydrates can be broken down into 3 major types – monossacharides, dissacharides and polyssacharides. In simple terms, our body mainly needs glucose, a dissacharide, for the efficient functioning of our metabolic processes. This explains why we need to have 40-60% of our daily meals to comprise of carbs.

So, which foods have carbs? The answer might be surprising – almost everything contain carbohydrates. What differs is the amount contained in each type. Fruits, for example, contain carbs in the form of sugars. However, most carbohydrates are starchy foods, which includes but not limited to the following:

breads
pastas
potatoes
bran
rice
beans

The carbohydrate content of these varieties of foods might be different from each other due to their nature and the way they are processed. For example, rice has 79g of carbs per 100g in mass compared to 19g in potatoes.

Foods that have carbs generally have certain effects on the body after digested. Many people feel sleepy after a heavy meal simply because of the high amount of dissacharides and monossacharides that flood the bloodstream due to the carbs.

Due to the fact that the body processes unused monossacharides into fat, many people think that by avoiding carbs, they can reduce and lose their body fat and somehow force the body into burning fat. This is far from truth, as the reduction in carb intake can cause the body to go into self-preservation mode and burn even less fat in order to preserve as much energy store as possible.

Therefore, to lose fat, it does not matter which foods have carbs as we cannot avoid having these to fuel our bodies. It is more sensible to follow a proper plan and healthy guideline to lose weight.

Losing fat can be a difficult process, one that needs constant effort and great motivation to persevere. The key to losing fat fast is to follow a proven, easy and simple plan that effectively burns fat from your body and keep it away forever.

All bodybuilders search for the best fat burning diet. Knowing how to burn off excess body fat while maintaining impressive muscle mass is what separates bodybuilders from weightlifters. Part 1 of this series discussed what to avoid when trying to lose body fat, the concept of carbohydrate rotation, as well as the effect that carb depletion has on your body’s fat burning mechanisms. This article will discuss how to begin using carb cutting to turn your body into a fat burning monster!

You want to start burning fat by cutting carbs out of your diet. This needs to be done safely and with a plan to maximize the incredible results that you desire. Remember, we are not going to totally eliminate carbohydrates from our diet, only reduce them. The easiest way to do this is to cut your intake in half. This will make the process all the more easy. No counting or measuring. Just cut the carbs down the middle. So if you like to eat 6 pieces of toast at breakfast, only eat 3. If you have a baked potato with meals 2 through 4 then only eat half. The cup of rice you’re going to eat at dinner – make it 1/2 a cup. Simple!

By using this method of halving carbs in your diet you will still be able to train hard and maintain the intensity of your workouts. The caveat to this is learning how long and how many workouts you can do before your body starts to crash. You must understand that cutting carbs will reduce your glycogen stores. As glycogen nears depletion your body will stop burning fat and turn to muscle for its needed energy. If you start to drag in the gym and can’t complete your workouts like you used to it’s time to change your methods.

Under the best fat burning diet plan, when you feel depleted, you will increase your carb intake over a two day period. The amount of carbs should be near the level you were at before you cut them in half. Glycogen stores will start to increase as you ingest more carbohydrates and your energy levels will start to rise. You are now building an energy supply that will help you train at a higher intensity when you cut your carbs again. Increasing your intake will also keep your metabolism active and it will prevent muscle loss.

How long should you cut carbs to reduce body fat? This will vary from individual to individual. Some bodybuilders will crash after only 3 days of cutting carbs, while some will last 6 or 7 days. The best way to monitor the effects of reducing your carb intake is how you feel in the gym. If you begin to drag then it’s time to increase your intake the next day. I would suggest starting with halving your carbs for 5 days, then increasing them for two days. However, if you notice a crash coming on sooner than 5 days increase those carbs!

The best fat burning diet is the one that you can stick to AND the one that has been proven to be effective year after year for one successful bodybuilder after another. Click here for part 3 of this series to learn exactly what to do to start burning fat like the pros: Fat Burner 3

Diet Doc Weight Loss Program wants to discuss your diet, it is important to put things into perspective. You are a human being. Your ancestors have evolved over hundreds of thousands of years and you are the product of evolutionary pressures that have always existed and continue to exist today. Diet Doc reports, one of the reasons your ancestors survived so that you could be here is that they ate a simple, nutritious, and balanced diet that allowed them to thrive and procreate. Since the industrial and agricultural revolutions, crops have been mass-produced, harvested, processed, and distributed within the United States and around the world. This lead to a substantial increase in the amount of grains (and grain products) and sugar in the diets of those who lived in accordance with a “western” lifestyle.

The body perceives sugars, carbohydrates, and fats as different forms of energy. Because the “western” diet is high in carbohydrates and sugar, the body quickly burns what it needs (raising and then lowering your blood sugar) and stores the rest for later use. Diet Doc Medical Director, Dr. Shelton reports… from my clinical experience I can honestly say, excess sugars and carbohydrates contribute much more to weight gain than dietary fats. The body has no problem taking excess dietary sugars and carbohydrates and storing them as fat. Sugars also place a great burden on your pancreas, which has to produce insulin every time you ingest sugars. The body does this in an effort to lower your blood sugar levels by driving the blood sugar (glucose) out of your bloodstream and into your cells with the insulin.

Diet Doc asks…. how do you stop this insidious cycle? By cutting sodas, fruit juices, candy, and excess carbohydrates (bread, crackers, noodles, rice, bagels, cereals, pasta, muffins) out of your diet and reducing your portions when you do eat. If you currently have Type 2 diabetes these foods are no good for you and will greatly increase the likelihood of amputation, blindness, and kidney failure by hastening the disease process. Studies have shown that mice fed 30% less food, lived about 30% longer than mice that were over fed.

Increasing the amount of good fats in your diet will help prevent the dip in your blood sugar that usually leads to hunger pangs and carbohydrate cravings. Sources of good fats include real butter, eggs, nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazel nuts, etc), cold water fish, tahini (sesame seed paste), coconut, avocados, and olives.

Diet Doc Medical Director, Dr. Shelton reports….. Dr Bernard Jensen once said, “If you don’t spend money on good food now, you will spend it on the doctor later.” He is correct. Food is medicine. If we eat poorly, we cannot expect to maintain our health.

Call Diet Doc Weight Loss Program today to have your diet personalized by our weight loss experts 888-934-4451 or visit us at http://www.hcgtreatments.com

Call Diet Doc Weight Loss Program today to have your diet personalized by our weight loss experts 888-934-4451 or visit us at http://www.hcgtreatments.com

There is no “secret” to losing weight. The factors that contribute to weight loss haven’t changed since mankind first evolved – you need a healthy diet and adequate exercise. Children especially can struggle with making the right changes – partly because they don’t know exactly what to change and partly because their parents or care-takers have taught them or tolerated so many bad habits that the cycle is hard to break.

This is where weight loss camps can be highly beneficial. Here, trained professionals work with kids and teens to teach them how to eat healthy as well as how to enjoy exercising. One of the hotter topics in dieting these days is carbohydrates. The popular diets that told people to eliminate all carbs from their diet to lose weight has led to many people wrongfully believing that reducing or eliminating carbohydrates is a healthy way to live and lose weight. While it may help people lose weight initially, it is not a sustainable, healthy dieting method. The truth is that we need carbs to be healthy. The problem comes when we need to select healthy carbs to eat and avoid the bad ones.

Let’s begin with the basics – carbohydrates are one of three “macronutrients” that are necessary for a healthy diet. The other two are protein and fat. Yes, fat. Protein comes from things like meats, dairy products, soy, nuts, and seeds. Fats come from meat and essential oils that are found in plants. Fats can also be found in things like butter, fruits, and vegetables – such as avocados.

When you look at a “healthy” recommended diet, it becomes clear why eliminating carbohydrates from a person’s diet, especially that of a child, can be harmful. Carbs are supposed to account for 50-60% of a daily diet, fats 20-30%, and proteins 20-25%. Would you feel like you were eating well if you cut 50% of your diet out? Of course not!

So where do we find healthy carbohydrates? For the most part, carbs come from plants and some fruits and vegetables. The problem with the typical American’s diet, however, is that they get the majority of their carbs from processed foods like flour, crackers, and cookies.

That is not to say that we can’t all enjoy cookies from time to time. We can, and nobody ever became obese by eating a cookie every now and again. However, getting our carbohydrate intake from the aforementioned sources is problematic. These “mass produced” sources of carbs are a concern because the “healthy” carbs that come from the wheat are lost during the food processing. What is left are carbohydrates – just not healthy ones. This would be like taking an apple and cutting it in to 8 pieces then taking one piece of apple and covering it with caramel, chocolate, whipped cream, and sprinkles and calling the whole thing a “fruit serving” for the day. It doesn’t work.

So now that you understand the problem with processed sources of carbohydrates, you need to be able to tell the good carbs from the bad carbs so that you can teach your children how to eat well. Thankfully, it isn’t that hard to do, it just requires a little common sense. When you’re thinking about buying something to eat or feed to your family, think about how easy it is to trace that product back to something that grows naturally. If you have a hard time tracking it back to nature without going through a couple of processing factories, chances are the product in question is full of a lot of unhealthy carbs and few healthy ones. To make things even easier, I’ve compiled the following list of healthy sources of carbohydrates

Keep the list above in mind the next time you go shopping for the family. Additionally, if you’re in the process of investigating weight loss camps for your child, keep the list in mind as you look at samples of the food that they serve. If you don’t see menus that are based on healthy carbs, you are probably better off looking elsewhere. Most weight loss camps employ or consult with a professional nutritionist, however, so most, if not all, should serve meals that are healthier than most kids eat at home.

Last but not least, remember that your children have been developing poor eating habits for their entire lives, so making a switch to a healthy diet won’t be as simple as flipping a light switch. They may not like the taste of whole-grain food since there aren’t a ton of sugars and fats added to make them taste good. However, over time, they’ll develop an appreciation for the healthier foods and will begin to prefer them to the unhealthier alternatives.

David Kraft is a freelance author with many areas of specialization. He promotes healthy living for today’s youth and provides information about teen weight loss camp. You can learn how his camp is not a fat camp in the typical sense.

Contrary to popular baseless opinions, carbohydrates are not the enemy in losing weight.Â The enemy is too many simple carbohydrates and not enough complex carbohydrates.Â Google simple and complex carbohydrates to find examples in abundance of each. Â

The average American currently consumes 45% carbohydrates, which is not enough, and it consists of mostly simple carbs which explains our ever increasing guts.Â Normally, regularly physically active adults should be consuming 55% to 65% carbohydrates in their daily total caloric intake.Â If you’re worried about blood sugars then focus on complex carbohydrates like whole grains.Â A single serving of a simple carbohydrate is all most adults need per day.

An ideal time of day to eat a serving of simple carbs is in the morning after eight hours of fasting along with a good protein source to get your metabolism working and blood sugars regulated for the day.Â Another serving of simple carbs would be ideal right after a vigorous bout of exercise along with a whey (fast absorbing) protein source.Â Ideally the ratio post vigorous workout is 4 grams of simple sugars to 1 gram of whey protein.

Some of the primary functions of carbohydrates include:

– A major source of energy.Â Your day will feel livelier and less lethargic.Â If you work out, which you should be, your workouts will be more energetic which leads to bigger and faster results.Â Nice, right?

– Provides dietary fibers.Â Intestinal track bacteria build up is not pretty.Â Many illnesses are born from that.

– Helps the body use fat more efficiently.Â That’s right carbohydrates actually helps your body use up fat stores more efficiently.

– Provides fat soluble vitamins, i.e. vitamins A, D, E, and K. Vitamins are important because they regulate the release of energy in our foods, aids in metabolism, involved in red blood cell production, essential for liver function, essential for blood clotting, and a whole host of other functions to keep you healthy.

– Ensures brain and nervous system health.Â If that goes, you’re dead.Â If brain and nervous health are compromised you make yourself more vulnerable to illness and debilitating disease.Â Eat your carbs!

I have heard ill tutored mentions of the cavemen thousands or millions of years ago who ate primarily meat with little to no carbs in their diet.Â Here is what I have to say about that.Â I’m not sure they ever lived more than 16 – 20 years of age.Â I would bet that the cave men regularly died of severe nutrient deficiencies, a rotting brain, weak nerve impulses, intestinal problems etc. Â

Eat your carbohydrates and eat them the right way!Â It’s essential for weight loss and enhancing over all health and wellness.